Forgiveness: The Guard's New Orders
by blaaze6
Summary: In a sequel to "the Post Events of Frozen, as told by the Weselton Guard", the guard receives a letter to go to Arendelle, and negotiate forgiveness with the Queen. On his quest to gain his forgiveness, he meets friends, foes, and dangerous perils.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1  
>The door made a banging noise. Frightened by the sudden noise, I shot up to my feet. I took out my pocket watch and held it up to a lantern on the wall. It was 03:25. What is someone doing at the house at this hour, I thought. But, more importantly, why was I still awake? I looked to the door, sucked in my breath, and walked to it. I opened up the door, and...<p>

Well, before I get into that, let me get a bit into the basics first. I'm Jeronimus Krogh, also known as Mutton Chops (Although I don't have them anymore), and I live in my father's old house with my family, Norma, Jorge, and Belinde. My Uncle, Jeronimus the first, lives across the street from me. I call him Bear, but I digress, as my family won't show up much in these memoirs. You may have read my earlier memoirs, about what has happened after the events in Arendelle happened. Two years have passed since I inherited the house from my father, and the two years have been somewhat tough. For a few months at first, we had to deal with the Wolf's goons, who was the monster that killed my cousin.

Soon after, I taught Jorge how to defend himself with a sword, and told him that, if anything happens to me, he'd be the one to protect the house. I put my faith in him, and I didn't know that it would come in handy now, 2 years later.

Back to the present, I was standing at the door, and opened it up. I expected Uncle Jer, as he usually takes night walks, but I was surprised to see... nothing. I craned my neck to the side, looking for the mystery knocker. I could barely see anything in the dark. I just about closed the door, when I heard a small "Hello!" squeaked out. I looked down. It was a short man, with a cap on his head.

"I'm looking for a... uh... Mr. Jeronimus Krogh?" He said, adjusting his glasses. I nodded and told him to continue. "I have a... uh... message here from the Queen of Arendelle, she wishes for you to see it." I grabbed the letter, walked back to the table and set it down. I looked back at the man, and gave him a stare, as if inviting him in. He bumbled, "Oh, uh, yeah, uh, I don't think I want to come in, I'm only the messenger. So uh, heh, don't shoot me, heh. Okay?" He looked at me for approval. "Get it, like, shooting... the messenger...?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I understand. If you aren't staying, I suggest you take your leave. I have to turn in soon." The man nodded, and then scurried off the steps, down into the street. I looked at the letter on the table, I was unable to read that at this hour. I set it down on the table again, and stepped into the bedroom. Strangely, that night, I had a dream of grovelling to Queen Elsa of Arendelle, for forgiveness. I am still overwhelmed with guilt for what I almost did to her. It was the heat of a moment shot, and I was just following orders.

I awoke a few hours later, obviously still tired. Norma wasn't in bed, I assumed she was out making breakfast. I stepped out of bed, pulled on my clothes, and walked into the living room. Norma was sitting on the loveseat, reading the letter. She looked confused.

"An invitation to Arendelle? What's this about? Jer, do you know?" She handed the letter to me, and I read it over, it read:

"To whom it may concern,

This is a formal invitation to Arendelle from Queen Elsa herself. These are not given out handily, so if you recieved this, you may either be happy, or upset. The reason you have recieved this is as follows..."

From that point on, the letter was handwritten, and explained that I had somehow wronged the Queen (which I did), and that I shall come apologize, (which I will). I read over the letter, and included was a ticket for a luxury ship, which looked a lot better than the ship that I had used for Arendelle before. Norma stood up and held my arm, and asked me what it was about. I explained it to her, and she understood.

"So, you're going to leave us here alone once again?" she asked in a joking manner. I nodded, and giggled. She scrunched her nose, and then went over to the kitchen. "Well, you should look for when the boat is departing, so you can get ready." I looked at the ticket again, and noticed the time. It will be leaving in about 12 hours, as I guess it has arrived already. I looked at Norma, and told her the time it will be leaving. She looked surprised, but then immediately replied, "Well, you had better get ready, tell the kids where you're going." I nodded, and immediately went to pack.

As I packed up most of the clothes I needed, I grabbed a book from the bookshelf, and placed it in my bag. I slid my bag over my shoulder, and talked to the kids for a short time, saying that I'd be back in a bit. We hugged, and then I ran to get a meal before I left. I ate for a bit, talking with my family. I left my sword with Jorge, and then gave him a pep talk, telling him he could do this.

I ran out of the house at around 4 hours before the ship was slated to leave. I walked down to the dock, looking around at the town for the last time before I would be in Arendelle. I stepped onto the ship, looking around and smelling the sea air and smiling. I must have stood there for a bit, before the same short man who I had seen before was at my side. "Well, you're here early, but that's okay. We'll take off earlier, too, then."

I nodded and headed to the underdeck of the ship, and I noticed that this really was a luxury ship. I set my bags down and laid down on the queen bed in the room. It was early, but I was still really tired. I fell asleep quickly, ready for whatever will come in the next few days.

Over the next few days, I was treated with the utmost respect by the crew, who allowed me to write in the room all day, and just never do anything. Honestly, the lack of work was satisfying. We arrived in Arendelle about a week after we departed, with no bad weather had over the past week.

I grabbed my bag and stepped off the ship, it was early morning once again. I looked at the castle, it seemed pretty. I gazed at the town, everything seemed as if I had never left. I walked up to the castle, and looked up at the mighty structure. I reached for the door handle, and opened it up, planning what to do in my head. I decided to look for the first assistant in the house, and talk to them about meeting with the Queen.

Without my mutton chops, I doubt that the Queen would be able to recognize me, nor would anyone. I clutched my bag, when I walked into the grand foyer of the castle. I noticed a woman sitting down on a chair, reading. I looked around, and I decided to approach her.

"Eh, excuse me miss..." I said, hoping she'd hear. She did not. I tried to call out for her a few more times, before I finally tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped.

"AH! Hey... what'd you do that for?" She asked as she turned around. I looked at her. She was a bit shorter than me, but not too short. Her hair was brunette, down from an updo, and swept across her face and behind her left ear. I looked at her, inquisitively. "Are you new here? I don't recognize you from the coronation a few years ago." She blushed pretty quickly, and then turned back around, I'm not sure if she's used to strangers talking to her.

"Oh, uh, well, you know, we were working our bones off before Elsa became queen, that I, you know, thought I needed a little break. I was beat tired and slept throughout those next few days. At least the music was good!" She explained as she slowly looked back up at me. "What's your name, anyways?"

I replied, "Jeronimus Krogh, former Weselton Duke guard." She looked at me, and nodded. "I'm Anca, daughter of Gerda and Kai." She thought for a second, and then exclaimed, "Wait, you didn't see me at the coronation, and you were a former Weselton Duke guard...!" She looked excited, "You were Mutton Chops, weren't you?! The guy who almost killed the... Queen in her... ice... palace..." She slowed down as she thought about what she said, but the excitement returned, "Oh, but you've met Hans, right? Please tell me you did!" I nodded as she grew incredibly interested.

"What was he like? Was he handsome? Did he say anything about brunette hair? How'd you meet him? Did you like him? Was he handsome?" She asked in a barrage of questions. I used a hand motion to stop her from continuing, and then said, "He was okay, but he tried to kill the queen for personal gain." She looked at me confused, "But you did too, didn't you?"

I shook my head, "Not for personal gain, for family." She nodded, "Uh-huh. Well, you know, I'm not saying what he did wasn't bad, because it was, but just, I'd be damned if I said he wasn't handsome. I mean, I saw him there and thought, 'oh my God, look at that face,' you know what I'm saying?" I nodded slowly, as she seemed to be trying to convince me that he wasn't too bad. I then had to ask her, "How old are you, anyways?"

She replied quickly, "21!" I nodded, and then went to walk on, but realized something. "Wait a second, if you weren't at the coronation, how did you see Hans standing there?"

She stood for a second, and then replied, "Uh... I may have been admiring him from afar. What do you need, anyways? Talk to the Queen, right?" I nodded, and she said, "Well, come with me. You were here for my Hans gushing, so I guess I should help you out a bit."

We were walking to the throne room as she tried to make small talk. "Erm, so, do you like music?" I nodded, "I love music, if I wasn't a stronghand, I'd be doing that with my life." She looked at me and said, "Oh, man, I know, I keep trying to convince my mother to let me play some violin, but she keeps saying that I should stick to assisting the queen. I'm so tired of it. And it's not like I'm bad at violin either, one of the musicians here taught me how to play a few years ago, I've been playing in my room a bit." I nodded, feeling a bit glad we had found a common trait. She talked a bit more about violin, Hans, reading, and a few other things, when she finally said, "Okay, we're here! The throne room."

Elsa was sitting down at the throne, and Anca walked in front of me. "Follow me, and don't say anything out of line. Say nothing if you understand." I didn't say anything. "Good, now let's go." We walked towards the throne, as Anca tried to recompose herself. I heard her whisper to herself, "Breathe... don't get too worried, say who he is and then step aside." As we approached the queen, Anca breathed, and said, "I present to you... Jer, Jeronimus Krogh of the..." She turned to me quickly, "Where are you living now?" I whispered, "Denmark." She nodded. "Jeronimus Krogh of Denmark! That's who I present, yeah." She stepped back, and looked down, as I stepped forward to talk to Elsa.

As I looked up to Elsa, she had a look of anger in her eyes. She must have still been upset. I opened my mouth to talk, when Elsa cut me off, "Anca." Anca jumped and tensed up at her name being called. "Could you go get Anna for me, please?" She relaxed, nodded, and skipped off to get Anna.

"Before you ask, we are going to talk about what it will take for us to forgive you. We will begin negotiations once Anna arrives."

The negotiations were not pretty.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Yes, Elsa? What do ya need?" Anna wandered in and asked. Anca followed in shortly after, and stood back behind me. Anna looked at me as she was stepping up to the platform and stopped, "Who's this guy?" Elsa whispered in her ear, and Anna nodded, and then an angrier look grew onto her face. She stepped backwards and then said, "Check him for weapons, I don't want him in here with us and his crossbow."

I looked back towards Anca, she was shrugging. I grabbed the crossbow off of my back, threw it on the ground, and then took my sword out of the sheath, and laid it on the ground. "I honestly don't want trouble. I was requested here by Elsa about a week ago, and I decided to see what I was called for." As I said this, Elsa nodded towards me, and then turned back to whisper to Anna.

They whispered between each other for a bit. I walked back to Anca, and then asked her, "Do you know what they're chattering about?" Anca shrugged again, and told me she had no clue. I must have looked a little worried, because she punched my arm and said, "Hey, don't worry, they're nice, decent people, as long as they don't get angry."

I looked back towards Elsa and Anna, and then turned back to Anca, "I think they are angry." Anca solemnly nodded, and said, "Well, you don't seem like that bad of a guy, honestly. I'm sure they'd forgive you if you did a few favors for them. I know I can use a few more hands around the house." She giggled.

"Jeronimus," Elsa said, sternly, "We have reached an agreement about what your task for forgiveness will be." I stepped back up to face them. Anna looked angry, while Elsa still had a stern look on her face. "There's a man in the mountains. His name is Sander. He took a family heirloom from us, a necklace, and keeps it with him somewhere up on the North Mountain. Since you're so good with combat, why don't you go up there, and get it back from him? You are to neutralize him. By any means necessary." I opened my mouth to speak, when Elsa interrupted me, "Yes, that does mean to kill him."

"But, Your Highness, I can't do that." Elsa looked unpleased. "I... honestly, I can't kill. I really can't."

Anna spoke, "Pfft, and that's why you tried to kill Elsa, right?" I put my head down. "I was under orders and my stress was high."

"Your stress was high? You and your buddy were trying to kill me! And, you're under orders now. Now, go. You may rest here tonight, but I expect that necklace back in two weeks, or there will be dire consequences." I was speechless. I knew I couldn't kill the man, and, honestly, tears were welling in my eyes. I thought about how unfair it was, when all of a sudden, a noise from behind me started to yell, "But, Your Majesty, that's unfair! I wasn't there when it happened, but can't you take pity on a man? He has remorse too, you know."

Queen Elsa looked at Anca. Anca started to talk a bit more about how, even though I knew what I was doing, I wasn't completely in control of myself, and that if I didn't do that, there would most likely be dire consequences in that situation too. Anca reached the end of her speech, realized what she was doing, which was talking back to the Queen, and then lowered her head. Elsa replied to her, "Well, if you sympathize with him so much, why don't you two go together?" Anca gasped, and then started to launch into a tirade, but stopped.

"Then it's decided, you and Anca will go to retrieve the necklace. Now, pick up your weapons, get some rest, and leave tomorrow." I was shocked. I grabbed the crossbow, placed it on my back, and then resheathed my sword. I looked to Anca, who was as speechless as I was. We stepped out of the room.

As we were walking back to the bedrooms, Anca finally managed to squeak out, "We have two single beds in my bedroom, you can sleep in the other one." I nodded, as we kept walking. "Uhh... I have never been outside of the city. I don't know what it's like," she said, solemnly. We approached her bedroom, and entered the room. I set the bag down on the ground. She climbed up onto her bed, held her knees to her chest, and started silently crying. It's obvious she was very nervous and upset.

I looked to my bed for the night, it looked small for my size, but it's obvious that Anca wasn't moving from her spot for the rest of the night. I decided to sit next to her on the bed, and talk to her. "Are you alright?" I asked.

"No, I'm feeling terrible. I've never been outside of a city like I said, and I know it's just going to be horrible out there, and I don't know if I'll be able to do it." I looked at her.

"You're going to be travelling with a trained crossbowsman, who's also okay with a sword. I could buy you a knife or something before we leave to get the bandit tomorrow. Anything to make you feel more protected. I didn't want you to be dragged into this." Anca looked up at me. "Will you really spend money on me like that?" I nodded, it's the least I can do. "Well, I guess that'd make me feel a bit more protected. Will we need to bring a camping kit or something?" I nodded again, seeing as we needed to survive on the North Mountain. She nodded as well, and then laid her legs down. "I guess I'll be okay going with you."

I smiled, and she did too. "But this isn't anything romantic, you know, my heart belongs to Hans, still. And I'll still be pretty… shocked, just to warn you. I'm still shocked."

"Of course, I'm married, anyways. And aren't you almost half my age?" I replied. She responded, "Touche," and then began to lay down. "I'm going to get some rest, this stuff wears down on your mind."

I nodded, and understood. I grabbed the book out of my bag, and decided to light up a lantern and read. I learned about the history of the Southern Isles once again, and how the current King had come into power. It was an interesting read, but after a few hours, I put the book down and finally got some rest.

In the morning, Anca told her parents where she was going, cried for a little bit, and then departed with me off to buy supplies. I picked her up a nice dagger, she was happy with it, and then we found a great camping kit for two. We set off on foot, as neither of us owned a horse in Arendelle.

Anca was very quiet at first, as she was still shocked. I tried to comfort her, but she just did not listen. From that point on, I realized that I wouldn't only have to protect myself and get the necklace, I would have to protect the girl, too. After we had reached the top of a hill leading to the North Mountain, we decided to set camp up there. The weather was beginning to get cold, and we needed to warm up quickly.

I laid in my bed roll for a bit, trying to get some rest for the night. Anca brought her knees back up to her chest, while shivering. We sat like that for a bit before she spoke up, "Thank you, Jer. I know we haven't really come upon anything dangerous yet, but I know that you're here to protect me. Honestly, I'm still really shocked that I'm leaving the castle. I know I didn't say much today, which I hope is okay." I nodded. I then let her know, "It's okay. I prefer a silent traveling partner anyways." We laughed a little bit, when Anca said, "You know, I did see you. At the coronation. I was wondering where your mutton chops have been for a little bit."

I began, "Well, that's a long story, it all began when-"

All of a sudden, Anca interrupted me, whispering, "Wait, I hear something…" I stopped talking, listened for a second, and heard a bit of a rustling noise. I looked back to Anca, as I held my hand to my sword handle. I nodded towards her, and flung open the tent flap.

My mind was boggled, as I was wondering what the noise was. Was it just a tree, or was it someone? I pulled out my sword, and...


	3. Chapter 3

I stepped out of the tent, clutching my sword nervously. I peered over the left side of the tent. Nothing on that side, I thought, as I switched my gaze over to the other side. When I didn't see anything, not even a tree, I knew that something was up. I tiptoed over the side to look at the hind end of the tent, and also to survey the sides, to broaden my view, so to say. I finally reached the area behind the tent, when I realized that there was nothing there.

I started to walk back towards the front of the tent, looking on the other side, when I stepped on something. I looked downwards, and spotted something. I knelt down and grabbed at the object, looked at the sky, and decided that it'd be better to look at it inside of the tent. I scurried back into the tent, and sat back down on my bed roll. Anca looked back towards me and tensed up. "What was it? Was it something big and scary?" I shook my head, and handed her the object. She grabbed it, and surveyed it for a second.

She rubbed her chin, and rubbed the curious object a little bit. "Hmm, I'm not sure what this is. It looks interesting though, with the... you know, logo, and uh... stuff." She handed it back to me, and I decided to view it closer. It appeared to be an old coin, but I have no idea what kind of coin it could be. And I still had no idea where the coin even came from. It's possible someone threw it at the tent for whatever reason, but there's still no clue from me. Anca looked at me worriedly, and said, "Maybe it's just best to get some rest for tonight." I nodded, and then laid the coin down next to my bed roll. As I drifted asleep, I could hear whimpering from Anca, but I was too tired to effectively do anything.

As I awoke, I looked over at Anca immediately. She was still awake, studying the coin intently. I murmured, "Hey," and made her jump. She looked back towards me, and then giggled nervously. "Oh, hey, uh, yeah." I asked her, "Did you stay up all night?"

She shook her head. "No, I got a few hours of sleep in. I'm pretty tired, still. But look at this," She held the coin up. "It looks like this is an official Southern Isles coin... thingy. You know, designates who officials are there, and whatnot. I'm not sure how it ended up here, but it sure is interesting to look at." She pulled it back up to her, and fawned over it a bit more.

I peeked out of the tent folds. The sky was dyed a mixture of blue and orange, giving me a nostalgic feeling of sunrise. I stopped for a moment to admire it. A few seconds later, I turned towards Anca again and muttered to her, "Sunrise, better get going." She nodded, shoved the coin in her pocket, and then rolled up her bedroll. "Back in your knapsack, right?" I nodded. She rolled up the tent as well, and before long, we were ready to go.

Before we left, I looked at the sky again. My stomach felt a pit in it. My family, Norma... I wonder if they're alright. I was still nervous, but the calmness of the sky seemed to tell me that they were fine, that nothing was wrong. I believed the sky, looked to Anca, and asked her her opinion on where to go. She looked around, and then shrugged, "Eh, you know, I don't know. My gut's telling me to go that way," She pointed to a location that was north of us, "but my gut's told me to do horrible things before."

I raised an eyebrow, "Horrible things?" She nodded, and then continued, "Yup, like that one time I decided to try raw moose. That was... not a good idea on my part, really." We both laughed about it, as we started to head north.

"So, uh, what did happen to those mutton chops of yours?" Anca asked me. I laughed, "You're not going to give up until you get an answer will you? Okay, fine. I'll tell you." She made a victory arm pull, and then stood closer to me. "Well, as you probably know, word traveled fast to Weselton, so when we arrived, we had a whole group of people just taking the piss out of us, you know? We were hated, so I grabbed my family, and, you know, fled!" She nodded.

"Well, soon, we decided to go to Corona to visit my uncle, who lived there with my cousin. Stopping at some inns, it was difficult, since people recognized me by my mutton chops. I finally decided to, you know, shave it off. Believe me, it was tough, but I think it's better to not have mutton chops, you know?" She nodded, and asked, "How did you shave anyways, if you weren't able to get to an inn?"

I chortled and told her, "I found a sharp rock near a river and used that and my sword to, you know, slice it off. Soon after, I grew a beard, you know? My wife likes my beard anyways." Anca looked up at me, and then at the wooded area surrounding us. "Well, tell me about your wife and kids, while we're, you know, bonding." I laughed again. "My wife, her name is Norma. We met during a dance, when I was stationed up in Weselton as a castle guard. I met her, and it was pretty much love at first sight. I used to be a real charmer, let me tell you. 10 years later, it still feels like just yesterday. My children, Jorge and Belinde. I love them both. Jorge is defending the house as I'm gone, but he always has my uncle, who I mentioned earlier, across the street." Anca seemed interested, as we continued walking.

"But wait, where do you reside now? Weselton?" I shook my head and scoffed, "No, we ran to Corona, met my uncle and cousin there, and then..." I paused for a second, knowing that I would have to tell her about Rej, "Well, it's a bit tough to explain, but I got into trouble with some guys on the road to Corona, and the leader threatened to kill me. His name was Wolf, I guess my uncle was friends with him. I still remember, the Wolf was holding a knife to my throat, as I held my arms up. My cousin rushed in with an axe he found in the yard, and..." I paused, as Anca gulped, "Well, the Wolf heard him coming, and stabbed Rej right into the stomach. At that point, Uncle Jer just lost control and... you know, killed... Wolf..."

Anca looked devastated. "Oh my, that's horrible! I'm really sorry you had to go through that." I thanked her for the sympathy, and continued. "Well, Jer and I decided that our best course of action was to visit Denmark, to see my father. He lived in Blavand, like I did in my childhood." Anca interrupted, "What happened to your mother?"

I replied quickly, "Oh, uh, she died when I was a teenager. Tragic, really." Anca cringed, and let me continue. "Anyways, while Jer, Norma, and the kids all sped up to the first town in Denmark, I decided to visit Weselton, grab some valuables we used to own, and then continue. We ended up coming to Blavand, met with my father, who apologized for my rough childhood, and then, a few days later, he died, some illness that was unknown. Of course, my heart was absolutely crushed within those few weeks, so it really took me some courage to, you know, come here." Anca nodded. "That's really rough. I can't even begin to know how you feel."

Anca had a worried look on her face. "As I told you before, I haven't ever had anything devastating happen in my life. I mean, the most crushing thing is that my mother told me I couldn't play violin for a living. Never really any... death. Though, I guess that Adgar and Idunn's deaths were pretty horrible. It's not like I knew them personally, though. I guess, well, you know what I mean." I nodded. She continued, "I'm guessing I'm going to see something horrible on the way up here, aren't I?" I hesitated, then nodded and let out an exasperated, "Most likely."

Anca looked down, and moved a bit away from me. I put my arm around her and said, "Don't worry. You're with me, an army veteran, and a former guard of the Duke of Weselton. I'll never let you be in danger, and if you are, I'll protect you, understand?" She nodded, and then tried to lay her head on my shoulder. After a couple of minutes, she whispered, "Oh, this wouldn't work," and then straightened herself out.

We walked a bit longer, until we reached a small building. It seemed to be abandoned. I looked it over, and then said to Anca, "I'm sure we could stay in here for the night, but we should be careful." She nodded, and then gave me a thumbs up. I waved her into the building, as I scoped the surroundings. There was nothing of note around, but I looked for landmarks. There was a large rock nearby the building, that I stored in my memory for when we were heading back.

I looked back up at the sky. It was painted a wonderful shade of navy blue, with specks of white thrown on. I admired the sky once again, for a second, but stepped into the building. Anca had already set up the bed rolls for the night, and then looked at me for the fire. I nodded, and reached into my knapsack for logs. I couldn't find one, but I found my matches. I whispered to Anca, "If there's one thing that every building has, it's spare wood. Let me check downstairs, keep my sword." I grabbed my sword out of my pocket, and set it on the ground next to her. She was shivering, and she whispered, "Please hurry back."

This confused me, it wasn't necessarily cold outside, so why she would be shivering is a reason unbeknownst to me. I lifted up the hatch to the basement, and then lit a match, I scoped the dark room closely, when I finally found a few logs. They were a bit damp, but having fire on there should easily dry them up. I grabbed about 7, threw them in my knapsack, lit another match, and then went back up the ladder. I closed the hatch, and then looked back to Anca. She was still in the same spot.

I set a few logs down onto the ground in front of her. Remembering the dampness, I told her to wait, and then stepped outside to grab some kindling. I made a pile underneath the logs, and then lit those on fire. Before long, the logs became aflame, as the fire danced to life. I took off my coat, and set it around Anca's shoulders. She gladly took the coat, and held it to her shoulders. She whispered, "Thank you."

I nodded in acknowledgement, and then laid down on my own bed roll to sleep. Anca repeated, "Thank you," under her breath, until finally lying down, herself. I finally drifted off to sleep, when I was awoken by a terrifying sound, that rattled my bones. I sat up and looked.

It was a scream.

And it was from Anca.


	4. Chapter 4

I jumped up in a flash and grabbed my sword. I looked towards the source of Anca's scream, which led me to see her standing and holding her hands close to her. I ran over to her while yelling, "Anca, are you okay?" She ran behind me.

She yelled in my ear, "Just kill it!" I must have been looking bewildered, as she then pointed towards... something. I couldn't see. I aimed my sword towards where she was pointing and asked, "There?" She moved my sword, "There! And the sword's not going to do anything!"

I turned back towards her. "It'd help if I could actually see what you screamed at!" She rolled her eyes, took a stick from the ground, held it in the fire for a few seconds, and then threw the fire to where she was pointing.

"Do you see it now?!" She asked somewhat angrily. I squinted. It was a spider. As soon as I saw it, I eased up. "Are you serious? You screamed at a tiny spider?" She nodded hastily, and then pushed me towards it. I walked slowly towards it, and then raised my foot to step on the infernal creature. As I stomped, the thing crawled away. I looked back at Anca and whispered, "Happy now?" She shook her head, "Kill the thing!" It was my turn to roll my eyes, as I asked her for my lantern. As she handed it to me, I turned back to where the spider crawled. I took off my boot and began to search for the spider.

Finally, I spotted the damn thing crawling towards the door. I swooped in for the kill. I brought the boot down onto the hairy spider with a crash, tumbling to the floor with the boot. I was a bit disheveled as I put a bit too much power into the smash, but I finally killed the creature. I checked the bottom of the boot, it was there, flattened. I rubbed the bottom of the boot onto the ground a couple of times. I returned to my feet, to see Anca giggling at me. "That was a bit too much power, wasn't it?"

I squeezed my boot back on, and said, "Yeah, well, you're the one who wanted it to die." I handed the lantern to her and then laid back down. She turned the lantern off and laid down herself. She said once more, "Good night, Jer." I reciprocated the gesture, and then finally fell asleep.

I woke up early in the morning. Surprisingly, Anca was still asleep. I sat up and looked around at the empty cabin around us, and then got up. I walked outside to check the weather. There was not a cloud in the sky, and it seemed like it would stay that way for the rest of the day. I decided to pack back up and get going already. I walked back inside of the cabin and extinguished the almost dead fire. I calmly woke Anca up, and then told her we had to move. She nodded, and then rolled up her bedroll. I got my bag prepared and then asked her if she was ready. She nodded again, and then we set off.

We travelled up a dirt road, which seemed to transition into snow somewhere up the mountain. I told Anca to get her gloves on, which she did. Anca asked me, "Do you think I need a hat?" I shook my head. She continued, "Okay, good. I hope it doesn't get too cold."

"We most likely won't be up in the snow that long, since this is a simple fetch quest." Anca agreed with me, and then quieted down for a bit. We travelled up the mountain for a couple of hours, mostly in silence. It wasn't that we didn't enjoy talking, it was that we couldn't find anything to talk about. I made small comments about things we saw going up the mountain, which made Anca laugh at some points.

I finally thought of something to talk about when we were finally getting past a bit of woods. "Hey Anca, what's your favorite season?"

She replied, "Oh, I love fall and spring. The weather is just beautiful during those seasons, and I absolutely love it. I don't really like snow, and for some reason, in summer, I usually get very sleepy." I smiled, and agreed. "Then, we both like autumn and spring. Great!" She said.

"Oh, and by the way, when is your bir-" I stopped speaking when I noticed something. Anca began to speak when I closed her mouth, "Be quiet, get down, let's find a rock." We crawled towards a rock and hid behind it. I peeked my head up above it as I told Anca, "Stay quiet."

"But what are we staying quiet for?" I shushed her again.

I pointed and explained, "Bandits." Anca gasped. There were two of them, and they seemed to be heavily discussing something while walking along. I tried to listen in to what they were talking about within each other.

"Yeah, he came from Germany or Denmark or some place. He seems pretty nuts, but eh, whatever the boss says." The first bandit stopped, "Wait a second, you still have enough bolts, right?" The second one nodded, "Yeah, of course, I have some right here. Uhh... oh no, I must have dropped them." The first bandit started fuming, "Are you serious?! No wonder your father abandoned you, you worthless..." He started to mumble. The second bandit looked hurt, but then put his head down. The first bandit started to look around, "Listen, I buried some bolts around here somewhere. Why don't we take those?"

The bandit seemed to avert his gaze towards us. "I think I put them behind that rock back there." I ducked back down and then whispered quickly to Anca, "Stay quiet, we gotta sneak around these guys." She nodded, and then seemed to tense up. She held her hand on her dagger, and then said, "Let's go." I was surprised by her bout of bravery, and tried to crawl away with her.

The only problem with this plan, is that we weren't wearing the lightest clothing, so we stood out like a sore thumb. We were crawling at a slow pace as the bandits were walking towards the rock. When they got to the side we were hiding on, we had switched over to the other side. I looked back towards our path. There was a small cabin at the bottom of this hill we were on. I looked back at Anca, and said, "Okay, once they start digging over there, we start running. Do you understand?" She whispered to me, "Yeah, yeah, I feel." I looked at her inquisitively, but then shook it off. I listened for about a minute, until I heard the unmistakeable noise of someone digging through dirt. I nodded towards Anca, and we started to run while crouching.

Our plan seemed to be working. Then, Anca whispered to me, "Jer, I dropped the coin at the rock!" I stopped, and sighed, pushed her to keep going, and then went to grab the coin. The bandits were still digging, so I was not worried about getting caught. I grabbed the coin off of the snow, and then started to sneak away. At this moment, I heard a, "Hey, who's that?" I looked back and noticed that they were looking straight at me.

I started sprinting. I stuffed the coin in my pocket and ran down the hill. Anca was waiting at the cabin door, when she noticed the two men running after me. I motioned for her to get inside, when I noticed that a bolt narrowly missed my head. They were shooting at me. I avoided the bolts, almost getting hit at some points, but getting to the bottom without a scratch. I rushed inside of the cabin, and then stood to hold the door shut.

Anca looked like a deer in headlights. I yelled to her, "Get something! To block this door!" She nodded, and then looked around. She found a bookcase and started to push it. As the men tried to get the door open, I was able to get it back closed. I looked up to my right, it was a block of wood. I threw it down and then went to help Anca with the bookcase. We were able to get it to the door. The men were still hollering at us, but soon afterwards, gave up, saying, "We'll be back here soon!"

The commotion stopped at the door. I breathed a sigh of relief. Anca looked at me with upset eyes. She started an apology. "Look, I'm sorry that I lost the coin there, and had you go get it. It's just pretty much the only thing I can hold onto right now that makes me feel a bit better." I put my hand out, "It's alright. Just try not to lose it again, please." She nodded, and then said, "Well, do you think we should keep moving, or should we rest up here?"

I looked at the door, and then thought. I started to speak quietly, "Hm, well, I assume they're still outside, waiting for us to leave again, so we should try to look for a different exit out of the house. We'll leave in about an hour." She nodded, and then told me, "Got it. Well, let's check out what's on this bookshelf." She grabbed a few books, and we spent the next hour looking at the books on the bookshelf. I checked my stopwatch.

"Time to keep moving."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I looked around the room, trying to find an exit that's not out of the front. The bookshelf was still in front of the door, and moving it just to go into the bandit's line of sight was a silly idea. I walked over to the back of the room, and looked back at Anca who was putting away the books we were reading. She nodded towards me, and stood up. I grabbed my crossbow off of my back, and flipped it to the blunt side. I began to kick in a few boards, to test which one is the one that will get us out of there. I finally found a creaky one. I started to kick it in. Once my arm began to get tired, I started using my crossbow.

After a few minutes of this, I finally got the board broken off. I decided to see if I could fit through it. No way, I thought, as I tried to crawl through it. I decided to try breaking the board right next to it, to see if that'd make a bigger hole. I broke through this board too, after a few minutes, and finally was able to crawl through the hole. I ran back and grabbed my knapsack, and then pointed Anca to the hole. She nodded, and then began to run there. I followed her, and then began to lead her to safety.

As soon as we exited the cabin, there were woods straight ahead. I turned down towards the left side of the cabin, and hid behind the corner. I told Anca to go the other way. I snuck my way around the corner, when I heard a scream from Anca. "Dammit, they're still here," I immediately turned around to get back to behind the house. I ran swiftly, running into a elbow as I turned.

I heard Anca screaming, telling the other bandit to let her go, but I couldn't get to my feet before the other bandit who elbowed me mounted me. "You think you're a big, smart guy, eh? Sneaking out the back of this cabin?" He punched me with his right hand. "Well, we're smarter." He took another hook. "You're nothing," he yelled at me. I could feel blood trickling down my face, but I doubt I would be able to release my hands from underneath the bandit's legs. After a few more angry words, he released me from his trap. I laid for a second before getting back up.

As soon as I regained my composure, I looked towards him, but found an elbow coming towards my face quickly.

And then, things went black.

* * *

><p>"Jer? Jer, where did they take you?" I whispered out to the black room. I had no clue where I was. I immediately curled up into a ball and sat on the floor. "Right when I was gaining confidence, too," I mumbled to myself. I felt the tears welling up in my eyes. "No, no, Anca, you're not crying now, you're not crying now," I told myself. I began to run through the events that happened. First, after the one bandit dude knocked out Jer, they had another guy come up and grab Jer with him. The one that was holding me back hoisted me up over his shoulder after tying my hands together. I couldn't wrestle out of his grasp, so I decided to just accept it.<p>

But no longer was I accepting it, I was going to get out of that prison one way or another. I could barely see inside of the room, but soon my vision adjusted to it. It was still dark, but at least I could make out objects. I looked down at my hands, they were still wound and tied. "Great," I thought. Of course, I'd have to get those off before trying to escape. I scoped the room. The sharpest thing seemed to be a very dull blade near the wall. I knew that couldn't be the only thing, so I looked towards the bed they gave me. It was stained with blood and God knows what else. I placed my foot on it, and then stepped down on it. "Hmm... awfully springy," I thought.

I ran my hands around the bed, looking for an breaks in the mattress to reveal a loose spring, anything to get this damned hand-tie off. I was finally able to find one, underneath the rock hard pillow. I placed my hands right behind the spring, so there was nothing between me and the spring. I placed my foot towards the base of the bed, and then started to pull. After a few minutes of exerting myself, I finally got it off. I massaged my hands for a second, and then looked towards the door.

There was a window on the door, which I was able to see out of. There was a hallway leading to what looked like the main room. It was bright in the main room, and I saw a bandit laughing. I squinted, and saw that he was holding something. "He's holding my damn Southern Isles coin!" I gasped to myself. I felt anger rush over me like anger has never done before. I humphed and walked back to the bed to devise a game plan. I began to think about what some of the people I've read in books have done. "What did Dorthea Danielsen do in this situation?" I whispered quietly to myself as I started racking my brain for a game plan.

I looked towards the door, and then it hit me. I threw my hand up towards my hair, and grabbed a pin holding my hair in place. I realized that that might mess up my hair, but I didn't really care at this point, all I cared about was getting out of there. I crawled back over to the locked door, grabbed the door handle, and began to move my pin towards the lock. As I held onto the door handle, I shakily inserted the pin. I began to twist it, when I realized, books aren't realistic at all. I've built up most of my life around books, and I've just had that epiphany while trying to open a locked door in a dungeon to a bandit's place. What the hell am I doing?

I dropped the pin and grabbed the door handle as I fell to the ground. I didn't want to fully fall, so grabbing onto a locked door handle would protect me from that, wouldn't it? Well, as it turned out, the door was not actually locked. I had a giant epiphany about books being unrealistic, and the door was unlocked the entire time. Funnily enough, my first thought after this was something about my hair. This is not important, though, as I excitedly, but quietly, opened the door.

On the other side was the hallway. I knew it was trouble to go into the main room myself, so I decided to stick to the wall. I like to think that I blended in well, but what happened was probably luck. I was able to get to the main room, where the bandits were laughing amongst themselves on the other side of the room. I heard them say disgusting things about me that I'd rather not detail, but I had had enough of it, so I crawled next to a table, where they haphazardly left my dagger.

Inhaling, I slowly tried to sneak around them to the hallway on the other side of the room. After I got about halfway, I heard one of them yell, "Hey, did one of them escape?" darting to his feet quickly. I sped up my crawl, reaching the hallway by the time the other ones saw me. "Get him! Or her! I don't know which one it is!" I heard clatter as they moved the chairs out of the way. I got up to my feet and ran to the end of the hallway, reaching a door. I opened it up quickly, pulled out my dagger quickly, and held the door closed. Obviously, with 6 burly men like them, the door wouldn't last, so I decided to hold it.

I looked around the room, and saw a man lying in bed. "Psst, psst, hey you." I whispered to the guy. He slowly turned, and I finally saw the man's black eye.

It was Jer. I cringed, and he said, "N-Norma?" I shook my head quickly, as they almost pulled the door open.

"Jer, get your butt over here and let me cut you loose from those hand wraps." He slowly got up, and placed his arms in front of him. I pulled my dagger out of the sheath, and then cut the wraps from Jer's hands. Then, I told him, "Grab that chair over there, and put it underneath this door handle." He obliged. I pulled away from the door once the door-chair blockade was set up. I then told Jer, "Get ready to fight, grab something that can be used as a weapon, and then get ready. Okay?" He nodded.

He placed one foot on the bed, using all of his power to break one of the legs off. The way it broke, it made it very sharp. I nodded towards him, and then looked towards the door. I began to move the chair, letting the door be opened.

Using quick thinking, I grabbed the chair and when the first guy ran in, I bashed it over his head. I watched as he tumbled to the ground, unconscious. The next guy ran in, and I just threw the chair at him. They all tumbled back, and I climbed over them. I ran to the main room, and then grabbed a sword off of the table. "Jer! Need a sword?" I ran over to the room with Jer in it, as the guy who was out of the room got to his feet. He looked at me with anger, and lunged at me. I whacked him in the face with the sheathed sword, sending him to the ground. I tossed the sword over to Jer.

I watched Jer unsheathe the sword, and begin to sword fight with one of the people in the room. I sat there cheering for a second, when I was grabbed from the back. Not having any of that, I bit down hard on the finger he was trying to keep from going inside my mouth. He recoiled immediately, and I took the chance to do something I learned in a book. I kicked him square in the middle of his nether regions, and then stood back. He kneeled down, as expected, which allowed me to knee him in the face, sending him sailing backwards.

I stood back, and smiled at my handiwork, when all of a sudden I felt a sharp pain in my back. I reached around and felt my back, and noticed a nice, clean bolt sticking out of there.

Almost immediately, I passed out.


End file.
